Various WIP

[ultravanillasmurf]

Very nice.

[ripley]

Finished off the 250/9 . Just added a stowage box to the rear door , a tow cable and a Jerry can . The Rubicon figures I was going to use as crew just didn't fit that well so I hunted through the spares box and found some JTFM resin seated Germans that I purchased a few years ago .  More 25mm than 28 IMO but with a little surgery they fit into the turret just fine









Although I was disappointed with them when I first got them , they have served me well by becoming drivers in  my 2  Warlord and my 2 Rubicon 251 half tracks , and now a turret crew for my 250/9 . Both Warlord and Rubicon plastic figures would be a problem to sit  in these turrets , a Perry plastic figure  being of slighter build would probably work out better until we get a dedicated crew set from Rubicon , Yes the tow cable is really bigger than the cable usually issued with these vehicles . I wanted to add a cable  but  unfortunately I don't have any smaller sized tow eyes  so I made do ( for now ), anyone got any ideas where to find any smaller ones  ?

[ripley]

Started work on my Matilda . I wonder who designed this for Warlord as some parts are rather PSC thick

It's a nicely detailed kit but it does omit a few things  , no gunner's sight in mantle , no pistol port on turret and interior hatch detail . As well , most of the small detail parts have no pins or location holes so have your research info for placement  handy .

My library is lacking on the Matilda  and I haven't found , as of yet , a go to site on the web for info on all production changes in the hull and turret , so its a picture here , and another picture there . And as usual , the item I interested in is the one thing the photographer ignored totally . Still looking for a couple of good over head pictures / stowage diagrams showing the tool placement on the upper hull either side of the turret . Here's 3 different pistol ports I've found . I have no idea as to when in the production time line they appeared though . I just added a rounded rim one as I had the plastic shape already

[Pinky]

Interesting build, Ripley.  Does it feature the raised suspension seen on BEF tanks?

[ripley]

Yes it does include both wheel types  .The BEF version has a separate track run while the regular version has molded on track

[ripley]

Here's my finished Russian Matilda . Except for the missing pistol port on the turret and no mounting points for all the external stowage bits , a very nice little kit . As well as the pistol port ,  I added a sledge hammer and 2 piece pick from the parts box  to the upper hull and tow rings to the mounts on the rear . I also added some internals to the turret hatches





The crew are a couple of plastic Warlord figures and a resin figure by JTFM ( ? ) I left them removable so I can also show this as a knocked out /captured tank

[ultravanillasmurf]

Nice work.

[ripley]

Thanks

[ripley]

Next on the bench , the CMP 15cwt truck . I was thinking of modelling as a Russian  lend lease item , but it seems that Ivan only got about 30 of these . He got lots more of the 3 ton truck , so that idea will have to wait for the Bedford kit .  I figure I can built both the covered and uncovered version of the truck bed , by gluing the floor to the frame and leaving the other components as removable pieces . No idea what I'm going to add to the open rear yet , ammo boxes , fuel drums , or maybe troops . Will wait for inspiration to strike ….

[ripley]

So I got the cargo box and tarp hoops finished . Take care with these as the plastic ( in my kit ) was very brittle . They also are very much a PIA to glue on , seemed to me they are a smidge wider than the box , But it all worked after a little swearing and super gluing parts to my fingers .

For those of you wanting to super detail the cab , here's a diagram from one of the tech manuals

and here's the list of what's what .

Might have to get another kit and open the cab doors …...

[ultravanillasmurf]

Nice.

That is dedication.

[ripley]

Dedication , stupidity or an obsessive compulsion , my Doctor hasn't given me  a diagnosis yet .  lol

[ripley]

I found the driver figure had trouble sitting flat in the seat using the supplied arms and steering wheel piece , his elbow jammed against the engine cover . So I removed the left arm and hand , and replaced it with the rolled sleeve left arm from the standing figure .  I also gave him a Warlord head with a commo cover on the helmet ( Uni carrier kit ) . Then I added a Enfield rifle to the floor mounts by each door , of course the guns are too tall, so I cut them down to fit ( a good use for all those Enfields with bayonets you get on the weapons sprue ) You can just see them through the side windows when the roof is on , in hindsight I could have just used a brown painted piece of plastic





The ammo boxes in the rear are Rubicon Stowage set parts ( A13 { Allied } ,A 15 { German } ) . I thought they were too long ( scaled out over 6 feet ) , so I cut them in half , added an end and the cross pieces . I then cast a bunch of them to make ammo box piles , as they look ( to me ) like the wooden 4 round  75mm ammo crates used by the Allies , they end up on Shermans , Churchills and Cromwells . The Germans also had similar boxes so I made a bunch of them for Jerry's use as well . Yes the allied star is put on crooked ,it seems the Canadians got a little pissed off by the Yanks joining the party late and taking over control of the war , so as a protest they made a shoddy job of adding the US star to their vehicles . I've read that they got in trouble if the brass caught wind of it but the local command seemed to let it slide

[ultravanillasmurf]

Interesting about the stars.

Those crates look good.

[Captain Blood]

Yes, the driver is not a good fit in this kit. i found the same thing. Stowage looks good though 
I do think there are too many large items and not enough small tool boxes, crates etc in the two stowage sets. Hopefully there will be German and Allied stowage sets 2, which will include a selection of smaller boxes.